News Watch

After more than three years of negotiations, the government of Colombia and FARC, a militant communist rebel group considered a terrorist organization by the US, signed a cease-fire on June 24, ending 50 years of civil war. The cease-fire precedes an actual peace accord, which at press time was anticipated to be finalized and signed in late July. It is estimated that more than 200,000 people have been killed in Colombia’s war with FARC.

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In eastern China, a man at Shanghai Pudong International Airport threw a glass bottle containing explosives at a check-in counter on June 13, injuring himself and four others when it detonated. After throwing the bomb, the man attempted to commit suicide with a knife. Chinese authorities reported that the attacker was motivated by extreme gambling debts.

A 22-year-old tourist from the Netherlands was convicted by a Qatari court on June 14 of having sex outside of marriage after reporting to the police that she had been drugged and raped. She was fined $824 and deported, while her assailant was given 140 lashes (100 for sex outside of marriage and 40 for consuming alcohol).

In 2013, a Norwegian woman similarly was arrested and convicted of sex outside of marriage in the UAE after reporting being raped. She was given a 16-month prison...

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The World Health Organization (WHO) advises that, despite the presence of the Zika virus in the Rio de Janeiro area, the virus will not pose a significant health risk at the Summer Olympic Games.

According to WHO, as the games will be held during Brazil’s winter months, the population of the vector of Zika, the Aedes aegypti mosquito, will be small. WHO also recommends that all visitors stay inside whenever possible and, if outside, to wear clothing that covers much of the body...

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As ITN went to press, the State Department had travel warnings on 37 destinations: Afghanistan, Algeria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, El Salvador, Eritrea, Haiti, Honduras, Iran, Iraq, Israel/West Bank/Gaza, Kenya, North Korea, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Mexico, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Republic of South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, Venezuela and Yemen...

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An EgyptAir plane, flight MS804 heading from Paris to Cairo, crashed into the Mediterranean Sea on May 19 shortly after airport tower operators in Greece lost contact with the pilots. There were 56 passengers and 10 crew on board, and all are presumed dead. It was later revealed that in-flight systems had reported two smoke alarms being set off on board before contact was lost. 

At press time, a multinational search team was still scanning for signals from the plane’s...

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Heavy rains in the month of May caused deadly landslides to strike in the central area of Sri Lanka, killing at least 101 people, with another 100 missing and presumed dead and more than 300,000 displaced. The worst landslide, on May 18, buried three villages in the Aranayake district.

A series of wildfires, which began in early May in the oil sands area of northern Alberta and Saskatchewan, western-central Canada, had burned almost 2,300 square miles of forest as of press time, forcing more than 90,000 people living in and around the city of Fort McMurray to evacuate their homes. The fires destroyed at least 2,000 buildings in the city. Some residents were allowed to return beginning on June 1 as utilities were restored.

Officials stated it could take months to...

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